Bangladeshi Atheist Blogger Faces Up To 14 Years for Hurting “Religious Feelings”

Bangladeshi Atheist Blogger Faces Up To 14 Years for Hurting “Religious Feelings”

An atheist blogger in Bangladesh was arrested at an airport on Monday, and he could get up to 14 years in prison because he “hurt religious feelings” with his social media posts criticizing Islam.

Immigration police detained 25-year-old blogger Asaduzzaman Noor, known as Asad Noor on Facebook and YouTube, at the Dhaka airport on Monday. Inspector Mohammad Shahidullah said hundreds of Muslims had staged demonstrations against Noor, which apparently is cause for prison time there.

‘The charge against him is that he hurt religious feeling[s] by mocking Prophet Mohammed and made bad comments against Islam, the prophet and the Koran on Facebook and YouTube,’ he said.

Noor is now facing up to 14 years in prison because a group of people were upset by his religious criticisms and rhetoric online. If I was arrested every time I offended some religious people, I wouldn’t be able to write this right now.

7 COMMENTS

@OP- Noor is now facing up to 14 years in prison because a group of people were upset by his religious criticisms and rhetoric online.

Well – those all-knowing, all powerful gods, get really hurt by fierce printed WORDS!
After all!
If all their believers were tempted to think rationally about those WORDS, the poor little “all powerful” god-delusions could be quivering in terror at the prospect of becoming extinct! 🙂

@OP – ‘The charge against him is that he hurt religious feeling[s] by mocking Prophet Mohammed and made bad comments against Islam, the prophet and the Koranon Facebook and YouTube,’ he said.

. . . and as we know, it is ABSOLUTELY COMPULSORY for those possessed by god-delusions, to look at blogs, Facebook, and YouTube, in order to be offended!
They couldn’t possibly simply disagree, look elsewhere, or concentrate on their regular addicts’ shots of re-indoctrination 5 times a day!

Turkey’s main opposition party has called for a parliamentary inquiry after the directorate of religious affairs said that, under Islamic law, girls as young as nine could marry.

The comments by the Diyanet prompted an outpouring of anger on social media from Turkish women’s groups.

The directorate insisted it was only defining points of Islamic law.

Turkey’s legal age of marriage is 18 but the practice of underage weddings in religious ceremonies is widespread.

Turkish law also allows 17-year-olds to marry with the consent of their parents or guardian, or 16-year-olds in exceptional circumstances with court approval.

The current outcry was started by a statement on adolescence posted online by the Diyanet, the state body which administers religious institutions and education.

It said that, according to Islamic law, the beginning of adolescence for boys was the age of 12 and for girls the age of nine.On the same website, it said that whoever reached the age of adolescence had the right to marry.

Thirty MPs of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) called on the government to launch an investigation into child marriage.

Murat Bakan, CHP’s MP for Izmir, said on Twitter: “The Turkish Civil Code clearly states that adulthood begins at the age of 18. Early marriages violate children’s rights, women’s right’s, human rights.
As CHP MPs we ask parliament to investigate child marriages.”

In a later statement, the Diyanet said it was only defining Islamic law and that it did not approve of early marriages.

“Forcing a young girl to marry someone before they obtain the psychological and biological maturity, and before they gain the responsibility to make a family and become a mother, would not comply with Islam which puts consent and will as a condition in a marriage,” it said.

“Our directorate has never approved early marriages in the past, and it never will.”

Which in the light of the official statements, is the usual two-faced double-talk and compartmentalised thinking, which regularly comes from religion-besotted politicians!

Correspondents say that, despite the directorate’s assurances, distrust of the body still remains among secular groups.

In recent years Turkey has seen increasing tension between supporters of its secular constitution and those who favour religious conservatism.

In 2016 the government withdrew a bill that pardoned men convicted of sex with underage girls if they had married them.

Critics said it would legitimise statutory rape and encourage the practice of taking child brides.